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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Hyperdo Kit from Zome

We are on school break for Holy Week and this is a good time to do special projects, kits, and other activities that we don't seem to get to during more scheduled weeks.

I've blogged about Zomes before; this "toy" is one that both the kids and I agree is great. Zome changed their product so they no longer sell long struts in their kits (they are special order.) Instead they now have super short struts plus hyper short red (pentagon) struts. You can see the parts here. While kids can't make models they can crawl through as easily, the models they make are easier to handle and build.

The Hyperdo kit is an economical way to get a large number of super short and hyper short parts if you already have the other sizes. That's what I did when they were first available. This month you can also buy the half pound or two pound bag of random parts for 50% off using code pbb-50.

If you don't have any Zomes yet, the "naked" kits are a good deal. I bought tackle boxes at Walmart for under $5 to keep them in. For this month you can get them at 30% off with the code nkd0409.

Yesterday we finally put together the hyperdo (short for hyper dodecahedron.) As you can see in the picture, if you look at it from one angle you see a flower in the center; look from a different angle and you see a tunnel. Interestingly, the thumbnail of the flower-center angle clearly shows a Star of David in the empty spaces of the model that is harder to appreciate in the larger shot. I'll have to see if I can see the star when trying to cast shadows with the model--it should look golden as the sun will come through those areas!

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On Science, Learning, and Faith

"Books dealing with science as with history, say, should be of a literary character, and we should probably be more scientific as a people if we scrapped all the text-books which swell publishers' lists and nearly all the chalk expended so freely on our blackboards."Charlotte MasonA Philosophy of Education

"Some teachers may give a live lesson from a stuffed specimen, and other teachers may stuff their pupils with facts about a live specimen; of the two, the former is preferable."Anna Botsford ComstockHandbook of Nature Study

“Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.”

Pope John Paul II

"Beautiful is what we see.More beautiful is what we understand.Most beautiful is what we do not comprehend."Bl. Nicolas StenoFounder of modern geology

"Go my Sons, burn your books and buy stout shoes, climb the mountains, search the valleys, the deserts, the sea shores, and the deep recesses of the earth...Observe and experiment without ceasing, for in this way and no other will you arrive at a knowledge of the true nature of things." Petrus Severinus16th century Danish alchemist

"All this propaganda for literacy of one sort or another comes from people who believe that everyone should share their particular views of what the most important knowledge is and what conclusions should be drawn from it; in other words, they want others to be indoctrinated."Henry H. BauerScientific Literacy and the Myth of the Scientific Method

"Furthermore, and contrary to popular belief, the Church never supported the idea that the earth is flat, never banned human dissection, never banned the zero, and certainly never burnt anyone at the stake for scientific ideas."James HannamThe Genesis of Science